Delineating ethnic and religious identities in research with British South Asians

The present essay presents a rationale for delineating ethnic and religious identities in empirical research into self-identification among British South Asians. It is argued that the delineation of these identities is important in order to (i) predict and explain the identificatory possibilities available to these individuals; (ii) explore the differential values attributed to these identities; (iii) the level of psychological 'connectedness' between the identities; and (iv) the inter-relations between these identities, particularly in relation to psychological coherence. It is argued that a systematic delineation of these identities may have favourable theoretical, empirical and practical outcomes

The construction of ethnic identity: insights from identity process theory

Ethnicity has received much empirical and theoretical attention in the social sciences. Yet, it has scarcely been explored in terms of its relationship with the motivational principles of identity. Here it is argued that there is much heuristic and predictive value in applying identity process theory (IPT), a socio-psychological model of identity threat, to the substantive literature on ethnicity. The paper explores the potential psychological benefits of ethnic identification. Key theoretical strands from anthropology and sociology, such as the ‘relational self’ in ethnic identification, are discussed in relation to IPT. The intergroup dimension of ethnic identification is explored through the discussion of ethnic 'boundaries'. Finally, the paper discusses the construct of 'hybridization' in relation to social psychology. This paper attempts to reconcile psychological and sociological perspectives on ethnic identification, advocating a multi-methodological approach. Key theoretical points are outlined in the form of testable hypotheses which are open to empirical exploration

Technology as a disruptive agent: Intergenerational perspectives

YesThis study explores how British South Asian parents perceive their children’s technology consumption through their collectivist lenses and interdependent values. The findings for this qualitative study indicate that second and third generation South Asian parents acknowledge the benefits of children’s technology use; but largely perceive technology as a disruptive agent, whereby children are becoming isolated and increasingly independent within the household. The analysis aims to understand how parents view their children’s relationship with others as a result of technology consumption. Accordingly, this paper proposes an extension of the Construal of self conceptualisation and contributes a Techno-construal matrix that establishes a dyadic connection between technology consumption and cultural values. Overall, the study reveals that children display less inter-reliance and conformance typically associated with collectivist cultures, resulting from their technology use. Consequently, parents interpret their children’s shift from interdependence to more independence as a disruptive and unsettling phenomenon within the household

Womanhood implies travel: Punjabi marriage migration between India and Britain

There are long-standing assumptions in migration theory about the scales of mobility that matter, privileging long-distance or cross-border over short-distance or internal migration, as well as tendencies to identify migration with the properly economic. Challenging these assumptions, feminist scholars have argued that these efface very significant forms of gendered mobility. This chapter focuses explicitly on women’s experiences of marriage-related mobilities. Moreover, we treat international and internal migration within the same frame. The context is the half-million strong population of Punjabi Sikhs in Britain, the largest ethno-religious community among the 1.4 million Indians living in the country. Punjabi Sikhs contribute one of the largest streams of cross-border spousal migrant settlement into Britain, although the prevailing pattern for Punjabi Sikhs is for marriages to take place between two people born and raised in Britain, and far less is known about such internal marriage migration. Here, drawing from the ‘translocalism’ tradition, which focuses on connections sustained across locales irrespective of whether these cross national borders, and reveals a plurality of spaces and scales in which migrants are emplaced, we explore the parallels and differences in women’s marriage-related international and internal migration, and consider what it is about migration that matters to the people who engage in it